The Princess and The Pee !

Because there’s more than me in the house with Diabetes

Not sure where to start here except to say, this is princess, my baby.

This photo was taken on Monday 12th November after she shockingly refused brekkie (she has never refused food)

I went and had a shower and when I got back she had been fitting, she seemed to come around for a while but a few hours later and several fits later she was in a very deep coma.

(No it wasn’t poison because the evening she was admitted they did bloods that came back clear)

She stayed in the vets that night and the next on a drip and on Wednesday morning I was told she was critical, if there was no improvement by 6pm that evening I’d have to say my last goodbyes.

I was broken-hearted.

That day I prepared her final resting place and prepared for what I had to do.

Then the vet rang at 5pm ish, that evening, I could hardly speak so I just listened. She was awake she sat up for a short while and they got a couple of steps out of her.

They did another blood test only to find Her blood glucose was extremely high.

He asked my permission to treat her with insulin. Of course I said yes. He said if this works and if there is no other underlying issue that she can come back from this but she may be blind.

She is not 4 years old yet, I was living in hope and suffering separation anxiety. It was literally killing me that she was not with me.

My beautiful baby may have had and seemed to have diabetes (but there may be another issue causing her blood glucose to be so high.

All I could do was pray that she would pull through from 2 full days of Deep coma and DKA

On Wednesday #WDD I celebrated by getting her home and learning her insulin and food regime.

The back leg she was dragging is still week but she is using it. Her sight is either gone or severely diminished.

Her hearing is hyper sensitive to the point where the sound of tin foil being used scares her badly.

She is reacting to things around her but that watch dog thing is gone at this moment in time.

She hasn’t barked since it happened and the dog that once nearly talked to me is very silent and to be honest looks very lost.

Why am I writing this ?

Well to show that animals get diabetes too and suffer just like we do, however they can’t tell us about it.

I feel so guilty for missing the DKA if I had a glimmer of an idea I’d have swung into action.

As we do!

Blood testing ? Yes this is necessary but I’m having a problem after struggling with her to actually get a drip of blood to test.

I then got urine testing strips, that I can follow her around the garden with to try and catch pee for it.

Plan A:

Imagine this for just a moment, I’m following princess around the garden waiting for her to crouch and produce a pee, my plan is …… quickly slip a lunch box under and as if by magic, I’d get some.

NO ! As soon as I slip in the lunch box she gets a fright and stops and jumps.

Plan B:

she pees on the ground outside when I least expect it and I proceed to wipe the dip stick on the ground…..

could be contaminated 😳 and as I’m doing this princess is looking at me in the most curious manor while my daughter is looking out the window breaking her heart laughing 😂.

Plan C:

Never thought of this one 🤔

My daughter says, hey Ma why don’t you just wait till she’s finished and wipe the stick on her wet foo (that’s what we call it in our house)

Well Plan C worked …..

result, glucose ok, ketones ok, blood in the pee, yes ✔️

I’m thinking kidney infection from a high glucose. Conversation with the vet tomorrow is needed.

What I really need for her is a Libre.

“She’s under 21 and is hypo & hyper unaware, but I’m betting The HSE won’t give her one. However a donation of one would be gratefully accepted”

The “diabetic” food they want her on is upsetting her tummy very badly so I’m preparing low carb food myself for her.

Thank god her mammy’s second language is diabetes.

My crash course and research into doggie 🐶 diabetes, Iv ticked what I missed and should have noticed.

I haven’t used a “type” in this blog because we haven’t got there yet.

Early signs

The owner will sometimes notice certain symptoms that can be early signs of diabetes:

Excessive thirst. The dog may drink frequently and empty the water bowl more often. ✔️

Increased pee’ing . The dog may ask to go outside frequently and may start having “accidents” in the house. Increased urination (and increased thirst) happens because the body is trying to get rid of excess sugar by sending it out through urine, along with water that bonds to the sugar.✔️

Weight loss. The dog can lose weight despite eating normal portions. This is because the dog isn’t efficiently converting nutrients from its food.

Increased appetite. The dog can be very hungry all the time because the body’s cells aren’t getting all the glucose they need, even though the dog is eating a normal amount.✔️

Advanced signs. In more advanced cases of diabetes, symptoms can become more pronounced and can include:

Loss of appetite

Lack of energy✔️

Depressed attitude✔️

VomitingThreats to health. Uncontrolled diabetes can lead to devastating effects on the dog’s body, which is why early detection and proper treatment are crucial. Effects of diabetes on the dog’s health can include: